[Lorendiac]

I suddenly found myself wondering about something: How many Golden Age comic book heroes, from any publisher, had origin stories which involved such things as "I'm a ghost" or "I was declared legally dead, but I got better" or "I have a ghostly assistant" or "I am possessed by the spirit of someone else" or anything along those general lines?

Here are a few which spring to mind as examples of what I'm looking for:

The Spectre, created by Jerry Siegel, was a cop named Jim Corrigan who died and became empowered as the Spirit of Vengeance. (His spirit was turned away from the Pearly Gates of Heaven when he tried to go in; apparently God felt the man still had some important work to do on Earth.)

Will Eisner's The Spirit was Denny Colt, who "died" in combat with a mad scientist named "Dr. Cobra" -- and then came back! It may have just been a case of suspended animation, but that "return from the grave" was why he lived in a crypt and called himself "The Spirit," even though he had no ghostly superpowers. (I guess nobody had felt the need to perform an autopsy on his body after he was found dead? Nor did they embalm him? I get the impression that after his "corpse" was found, the authorities just tossed the body into a coffin, shoved the coffin into a crypt, and called it a day? )

On a similar note, Quality's The Ghost of Flanders was an American soldier who learned he had mistakenly been declared Killed in Action, although he actually felt fine and dandy. He started living in a secret headquarters underneath the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. -- but he'd never been dead and had no supernatural powers. 

USA, the Spirit of Old Glory was a little girl who died during the Revolutionary War. She was clutching in her dainty hand a locket with a few threads left over from when Betsy Ross had recently sewn the first American flag. Fast-forward over a century and a half. Someone just happened to open that locket-- and suddenly, like a genie coming out of a bottle, a grown woman (apparently the little girl brought back to life as an adult?) emerged from that locket, wearing a blue costume and demonstrating remarkable superpowers.

The Fighting Yank was Bruce Carter III, whose distant ancestor (also named Bruce Carter) had died during the Revolutionary War. The ghost of the ancestor was a regular advisor to the Golden Age hero, showing him where to obtain a cape and hat which would endow him with superhuman abilities. I don't think anyone else could see or hear the ghost, but it was definitely there.

Captain Triumph was an interesting case. Lance Gallant was still alive. His brother Michael Gallant was very much dead. But Lance could see and hear his brother's ghost -- I don't think anyone else could -- and whenever Lance touched a birthmark on his own wrist, Michael's ghost merged into Lance's body, and the result was the super-powered hero known as Captain Triumph. Touching the birthmark again forced the ghost to leave Lance's body at once.

I feel certain there were other characters in the Golden Age -- say, from the late 1930s to the mid 1950s -- whose origin stories, from Day One, included such concepts as "I am legally dead" or "I used to be dead" or "a ghost is my constant companion" or something along those lines.

Suggestions?

[jimmm kelly]

Kid Eternity. Mr. Justice, the Gay Ghost, the Ghost Patrol.

Then there were those who came close to death like Blackhawk. After his family are killed, the unknown man leaves behind his past and becomes simply the man known as Blackhawk.

Eel O'Brien survived a near fatal accident similar to that of Denny Colt.

There were several mystery men who suffered some accident that ought to have killed them, but instead gave them extraordinary powers. The Ray survived a lightning storm that left him with the ability to travel on light beams.

[jimmm kelly]

Oh yeah, I shoulda remembered Captain Marvel, Jr.--given I just posted on my blog about his origin story. Suffering a similar fate as Kid Eternity--Freddy Freeman is near death, so Billy takes the dying boy to the Old Wizard and Shazam tells him that Captain Marvel can restore the boy by giving him his power.

[Powder Solvang]

The Heap was a sort of "un-dead" character whose adventures appeared in Airboy Comics:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heap

And Ghost Patrol was a backup feature in Flash Comics:

http://www.comicvine.com/ghost-patrol/4060-58553/

[Lorendiac]

Kid Eternity. Mr. Justice, the Gay Ghost, the Ghost Patrol.

As it happens, I suddenly remembered what I knew about Kid Eternity's origin story ("Hey! You aren't supposed to die for decades yet! This messes up our sacred schedule! Drastic measures are required!") a few minutes after I'd written and posted the original query. (In my defense, I might mention that I don't think I've ever read the actual debut story of Kid Eternity. Just references in later comics and in online summaries of the character concept.)

I knew, vaguely, that there was an Archie/MLJ superhero called "Mr. Justice." I didn't know his origin story involved his own death. Likewise, I think I'd heard the names of the Gay Ghost and the Ghost Patrol before, but without knowing anything else about them -- such as whether or not they were literally ghosts. I suspect I had previously assumed "Ghost Patrol" was just a colorful nickname for a conventional military unit that had its own little feature in the back pages of a title during WWII. A little online research, however, confirms that there were some honest-to-goodness ghosts involved in all three of these cases!

Then there were those who came close to death like Blackhawk. After his family are killed, the unknown man leaves behind his past and becomes simply the man known as Blackhawk.

I don't think that one fits with what I'm going for here. Lots of comic book heroes had "the sudden death of one or more loved ones" in their backstories. (Batman and Superman spring to mind in that context.)

Eel O'Brien survived a near fatal accident similar to that of Denny Colt.

On the other hand -- near as I can recall, no doctor examined the body and pronounced Eel to be dead. Nor was a funeral held. So for my money, he didn't come nearly as close to "crossing the line between life and death" as did Denny Colt. If Eel had been declared legally dead and his will had gone through probate, even though his body had not been found at the scene of the crime, then I'd probably reconsider. But as far as I know, that never happened either.

There were several mystery men who suffered some accident that ought to have killed them, but instead gave them extraordinary powers. The Ray survived a lightning storm that left him with the ability to travel on light beams.

Same basic reasoning as for Eel O'Brien -- "I could have died, but it didn't happen and the authorities never thought it had happened!" doesn't quite fit what I had in mind.

I admit that since my original query was very much a spur-of-the-moment thing without any sort of detailed Master Plan behind it, I'm now having to "make my own rules" as I go along, regarding what does or doesn't seem to fit my vague idea of what I was seeking, and where I should draw the line in doubtful cases! I certainly can't blame you (or anybody else) for being unable to "read my mind" regarding whether or not I will "like" a particular suggestion, and I appreciate all efforts to provide me with helpful suggestions.

As an example of how something can catch me completely by surprise:

Someone on another forum made a very interesting suggestion last night. (I'd posted the same query in various places on the Web.) He pointed out that the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl had the premise of "we were lovers in Ancient Egypt who were murdered and have now been reincarnated as modern Americans" as part of their origin stories from the very first appearance! 

I had not even considered "reincarnation" as a form of "coming back from the dead" when I posed the original query. But since both of those characters ended up with strong memories of their past lives (and being murdered), and since the guy who had murdered them was the same villain (also reincarnated) whom Hawkman fought in his debut appearance in the "modern world" of the early 1940s, I am inclined to agree that "violent death" and "making a comeback to try again" were vital elements of the original character concepts.

On the other hand! If, say, someone else had simply told Carter Hall, "Oh, by the way, you are the reincarnation of an Egyptian Prince," and if he had just shrugged skeptically and said, "Sure, sure, whatever," then I would feel that his alleged status as a "reincarnation of a guy who got murdered" was not a very important aspect of his origin story, since Carter himself didn't remember a past life as Prince Khufu, didn't hold a grudge over how Khufu had died, and didn't take the reincarnation idea very seriously. I mention this as an example of where I would "draw the line."

P.S. Come to think of it! I believe a Golden Age Timely hero called "The American Avenger" had something similar to that scenario happening in his own origin story -- it was suggested to him that he might be the reincarnation of a 19th Century Argentinean hero called El Gaucho, but Don Caldwell didn't claim to remember anything about a "past life here in Argentina," as I understand it, and so that was not the main reason he started dressing up in a colorful costume. (I think.)

[Lorendiac]

Oh yeah, I shoulda remembered Captain Marvel, Jr.--given I just posted on my blog about his origin story. Suffering a similar fate as Kid Eternity--Freddy Freeman is near death, so Billy takes the dying boy to the Old Wizard and Shazam tells him that Captain Marvel can restore the boy by giving him his power.

Wikipedia says that Kid Eternity actually died when he wasn't supposed to, and then was brought back to life for another 75 years in an attempt to correct this bureaucratic error. That strikes me as a clear-cut case of "crossed over into death, and then got better." On the other hand, if Freddy merely was close to dying from his wounds, but never actually got around to kicking the bucket, that doesn't quite cut it for my purposes.

Despite which! It occurs to me that I might be willing to count Freddy on a slightly different rationale, similar to my grounds for counting Captain Triumph and The Fighting Yank: "I am only a superhero because the ghost of an ancient wizard saw fit to empower me! If the ghost ever loses interest in me, I'll be stuck as a normal mortal again!"

[Lorendiac]

The Heap was a sort of "un-dead" character whose adventures appeared in Airboy Comics:

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heap

Good point! I was vaguely aware of the character's existence, although I've never taken a great deal of interest in him. I agree that if and when I end up constructing a "complete list" of Golden Age heroes who came back from the dead, and/or were legally dead, and/or had ghosts heavily involved in their origin stories in one way or another, then The Heap will deserve a place of honor among their ranks.

I believe I've read that once upon a time, when Gerry Conway and Len Wein were roommates, one of them wrote the first "Man-Thing" story for Marvel and one wrote the first "Swamp Thing" story for DC, with the two stories being published within a couple of months of each other. I also read that both men subsequently said, very politely, "I didn't peer over his shoulder to swipe his idea, and I am sure he didn't swipe my idea, either. It's just one of those things."

The most popular theory seems to be that both characters were strongly inspired by the Golden Age concept of "The Heap," and that the way DC and Marvel almost simultaneously published new characters with similar appearances and nearly-parallel origin stories was, in fact, Sheer Coincidence! 

[paw broon]

How about Ghost Woman in Star Studded Comics:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=9106
Not so sure about The Phantom Maid, who is shot and left for dead.  3rd. story in here:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=23064

[jimmm kelly]

As with the Heap, there were other risen from the dead monsters who could either be heroes or villains. Dick Briefer's Frankenstein, for example.

Brain transplants were popular in comics--usually with villains--but there was Robotman, a scientists who survived death by transferring his brain into a robot body.

[Lorendiac]

How about Ghost Woman in Star Studded Comics:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=9106
Not so sure about The Phantom Maid, who is shot and left for dead.  3rd. story in here:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=23064

I'd never heard of either of 'em. Thanks for bringing those ladies to my attention!

I agree with you that Phantom Maid is a dubious case. Near as I can tell, she simply called herself "Phantom Maid" (much the same way that Lee Falk's famous character called himself "The Phantom"), but at no time was she supposed to have been dead; it just took her a few months to recuperate from gunshot wounds after someone had rushed her to a "private hospital." That's what I see as the key difference between her and Denny Colt; the latter having been pronounced dead and shoved into a crypt in Wildwood Cemetery -- before he suddenly woke up.

Granted, the guy who shot her apparently had assumed she was dead, but I think that was just a matter of him being an idiot who hadn't bothered to make sure. (And I suppose the police may have concealed her survival, but I don't think anyone had issued a death certificate and held a funeral, had they?)

On the other hand, Ghost Woman definitely qualifies. I did a little online research just now and learned that apparently her first appearance was also her last. Too bad. 

[Lorendiac]

As with the Heap, there were other risen from the dead monsters who could either be heroes or villains. Dick Briefer's Frankenstein, for example.

Brain transplants were popular in comics--usually with villains--but there was Robotman, a scientists who survived death by transferring his brain into a robot body.

Good point about the brain transplants. That's another angle I didn't have in mind when I started the thread, although I do know about Robotman's origin story (since I own a full run of Roy Thomas's "All-Star Squadron"). I don't know much about "risen from the dead" monster protagonists in general; for instance, I've never paid much attention to any company's version of the Frankenstein concept. Horror is not really my thing.

[jimmm kelly]

You should check out some of the early issues of FRANKENSTEIN circa '45 from Prize--available on CB+. Dick Briefer took a funny approach to Frankenstein. Later on the book took a completely different turn to straight horror. But those early issues are great fun.

[narfstar]

How could everyone miss Sergeant Spook and Duke of Darkness

[Lorendiac]

How could everyone miss Sergeant Spook and Duke of Darkness

Well, considering that I don't remember ever hearing of them before, it wasn't exactly hard for me to miss them. 

But online resources confirm that both men were cops who a) got killed, but b) saw absolutely no reason why this trivial fact should cause them to stop fighting crime. I gather both of them could turn intangible (being ghosts and all) when it suited them, or punch you in the jaw with a nice solid fist when that was what the situation called for. Having the best of both worlds, as it were. (The key difference seems to be that the Sergeant was permanently invisible and inaudible, but the Duke could turn his invisibility on and off at will, and people could hear him just fine if he had something to say?)

[jimmm kelly]

The Ghost Patrol shouldn't be confused with the Death Patrol from Jack Cole. Where the Ghost Patrol were a trio of three ghosts, the Death Patrol was a combination of the Blackhawks and Suicide Squad. But both Patrols had a military aviation theme.

I've read all the Mr. Justice stories on CB+ and they're very interesting reading. Mr. Justice is like a combination of the Spectre, the Gay Ghost and Captain America. He had some weird and amazing adventures, but he didn't seem to gain the same following as the Shield and the Wizard.

[Lorendiac]

Thank you, everybody who's offered possible answers for the query in the original post. I've been compiling a list in Notepad of the suggestions that appear to fit what I was going for, and I've even managed to ferret out a few more on my own, either from memory or from using online resources about Golden Age heroes.

For instance, I remembered having once read about how Holyoke's Cat-Man used to get killed in each adventure so that he could then prove he had the "nine lives of a cat" and was able to magically come back to life to wreak vengeance on his own murderers. But that idea faded out of the plots of his scripts after it dawned on someone at Holyoke that if the hero ever got killed for the ninth time, they'd be stuck! 

As it now stands, I already have about 44 names on a "rough list" of Golden Age heroes (or heroic groups) who may fit one or more of my criteria -- such as "I was declared legally dead, yet here I am" or "I have regular chats with a ghostly companion" or "I'm a ghost myself." Apparently there was a heck of a lot more of that sort of thing going on in Golden Age comic books than I had ever realized!

In most cases, it's pretty obvious from quick research that the person is a good fit for what I was wondering about, but in a few cases I'm going to need to dig deeper before committing myself. Once I have done some further fact-checking, I'll post a "complete list" for the edification of my fellow fans.

(And then I'll probably get a flood of fresh feedback from people gleefully pointing out a dozen other incredibly obscure Golden Age heroes whom I had completely overlooked in my First Draft. Fortunately, I'm used to that sort of thing! )

[captblitzdawg]

It may not be what you had in mind, but the Lone Ranger was left for dead and presumed dead by everyone when he and the other rangers were ambushed. That's why he wears the mask, so he can remain dead to the world.
The GA Ghost Rider- don't recall completely and I may be mixing his story up with a BA Marvel origin, but wasn't his brother killed, but people thought it was him who died so he took up his brother's identity? Fighting American had a similar origin to that idea, too, but he may be too late to consider as GA for some people.
Update- don't know why I remember the Ghost Rider's story the way I do (I must have read it somewhere) but looking at his "original" origin, he (and his sidekick Sing Song) was thrown into a whirlpool by Bart Lasher and presumed dead by everyone because "no one gets out of the Devil's Pit!" Wearing no mask, everyone could tell who he was, but glowing white in the night, no one doubted he was a ghost.

[narfstar]

Good contribution capt

[Lorendiac]

It may not be what you had in mind, but the Lone Ranger was left for dead and presumed dead by everyone when he and the other rangers were ambushed. That's why he wears the mask, so he can remain dead to the world.

On the other hand, the Lone Ranger didn't start out as a comic book hero. He started out as a radio show. (My parents gave me a recording of an "origin story episode" and another episode a few decades ago, when I was just a kid. I wonder if they still have it in their old record collection? I didn't take any of those things with me when I moved out.)

Right now, I'm not so interested in guys who were created for another medium, and later got to appear in some licensed comic books. (On a similar note, I'm not really interested in Lee Falk's The Phantom in this context, since he was originally created for a daily comic strip in the newspapers.)

The GA Ghost Rider- don't recall completely and I may be mixing his story up with a BA Marvel origin, but wasn't his brother killed, but people thought it was him who died so he took up his brother's identity? Fighting American had a similar origin to that idea, too, but he may be too late to consider as GA for some people.
Update- don't know why I remember the Ghost Rider's story the way I do (I must have read it somewhere) but looking at his "original" origin, he (and his sidekick Sing Song) was thrown into a whirlpool by Bart Lasher and presumed dead by everyone because "no one gets out of the Devil's Pit!" Wearing no mask, everyone could tell who he was, but glowing white in the night, no one doubted he was a ghost.

So happens that just recently, for the first time in my life, I've been looking at the original Ghost Rider's old stuff that's lapsed into the public domain. I'd simply never gotten interested in him before -- comics set in the Old West are not usually my thing. I think it was gathering this information about "ghostly" characters that finally prompted me to dig into the subject; I'd always known this guy existed. (Ages ago, I collected and read a full run of Steve Englehart's run on "West Coast Avengers" in which he used the Marvel version of this Old West hero as a really creepy and deranged villain who ended up dying. I think Englehart called him "The Phantom Rider," but I was aware that the character was originally based on a 1950s hero called "Ghost Rider.")

We could argue about the "presumed dead" thing, since that seems to have just been an informal conclusion which some of his enemies might have drawn (after they threw him in), but which they probably never bothered to share with the rest of the world. I don't think Rex Fury was ever declared officially dead in the eyes of the law, with a death certificate issued, and his will going through probate and all that. But far more important (for my purposes) is the fact that after his near-death experience in the Devil's Sink, his origin story involved his spending a long time learning all sorts of useful tricks from the ghosts of Wild Bill Hickok, Kit Carson, Calamity Jane, and other legendary figures. Having a bunch of ghostly mentors run him through a sort of "Wild West Boot Camp" strikes me as good enough to let the original Ghost Rider qualify for what I was asking about!

[captblitzdawg]

Major Victory in Dynamic Comics was an ordinary Army guard who tried to stop some saboteurs. Trying to defuse a bomb after being blinded, he was blown to pieces but put back together by other spirits and a ghost named Father Patriot. Add him to your list.